Former Vice President Joe Biden has become the Democratic presidential nominee for 2020, scoring enough delegates to secure the nomination despite a string of embarrassing gaffes and major distractions from the race.

Though a number of contests remain in this year’s primary season, Biden reached the threshold for his party’s nomination on Friday night, winning support from 1,993 delegates, according to the Associated Press.“It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded – and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party,” he said in a statement.

Coming out ahead of a formerly crowded Democratic field, Biden managed to secure the nomination in the face of countless faux pas, most recently telling an African-American radio host that “you ain’t black” after the DJ said he had lingering questions about his candidacy.

The win also comes amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has largely forced Biden out of the public eye, who instead has made a number of rambling appearances online from a makeshift studio in his Delaware home. On top of the health crisis, nationwide protests over police brutality have also overshadowed the upcoming election, relegating the 2020 race to a seemingly minor issue among other national and global concerns.